Miami-Dade mayor fires political consultant for failing to disclose ties to convicted felon

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez abruptly fired a key campaign consultant on Monday after the consultant failed to disclose that one of his contractors is a convicted felon.

Veteran political consultant and lobbyist Al Lorenzo, through his firm, Quantum Results, employed Jerry Ramos as a low-level independent contractor.

Ramos, 47, was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in a 2008 federal case for forging postage stamps. His lengthy state criminal record also includes convictions for credit-card forgery, check forgery and grand theft. He did not return calls from a reporter Monday.

“Neither the state nor the federal charges were disclosed to us by Quantum Results,” Gimenez’s campaign said late Monday in a statement. “Since day one, our Campaign has held itself to a higher standard. Consistent with these standards, we have decided to sever ties with Quantum Results effective immediately.”

Gimenez’s decision came shortly after Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle asked Lorenzo to keep Ramos away from her campaign after learning of his criminal past. Lorenzo remains a consultant on Fernández Rundle’s campaign.

Lorenzo, who would only comment via email Monday before Gimenez’s decision, said he was aware of Ramos’ history, but thought he deserved “an opportunity.”

Though Lorenzo was fired for not disclosing Ramos’ past, his name had been weighing politically on Gimenez for more than a week, since a Hialeah absentee-ballot fraud investigation was made public. Lorenzo had been part of Gimenez’s Hialeah operations but avoided calls from reporters regarding the probe. More here.